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Diversity of Journalisms. Proceedings of ECREA/CICOM Conference, Pamplona, 4-5 July 2011
3) What kind of a reader experience is iPad journalism?
The research method is mixed. The project has two stages. Firstly, editorial staff was
interviewed by means of thematic interviews. There were 40 interviewees of whom 12
were journalists, 12 were photographers, 11 were chief editors, 4 were art directors and
one was a site builder. Each group had its own interview structure. Interviews were
held between October and December 2010. Interviews were analysed using Grounded
Theory, which is well suited to the study of phenomena in areas where little previous
knowledge exists (Corbin & Strauss 1990). According to Strauss (2003) the basic steps
of Grounded Theory are data collection, coding, memoing and theory construction.
Coding is the general term for conceptualizing data and it involves the discovery and
naming of categories. Strauss (2003) has divided coding into three stages: open
coding, axial coding and selective coding. Coding includes finding and naming
categories and their relations. In the present study, the data was first open coded, i.e.
the data was first transcribed; second, the data was read line by line, word by word;
and third, the codes were added. The aim was to identify categories and subcategories
that explain the data. The coding process made use of a computer and ATLAS.ti
software.
The second stage covers a survey of reader opinions. The questionnaire has 27 items.
This includes classificatory questions to establish demographics and rating questions
using the Likert scale and verbal scaling. Data collection began in April 2011 and will
continue until the end of October 2011. Data will be analyzed by means of cross tables
and weighting.
Preliminary results
The first stage and preliminary results indicate that there has not been enough time to
develop an iPad magazine concept that is effectively differentiated from the print.
Journalistic content remains pretty much same. Journalists and editors say they are
producing exactly the same content for both magazine versions.
P11:13 We are sort of expected to adapt our content into iPad format. But this hasn’t
really had much impact on the writer’s job.
P22:30 Well, at the moment there isn’t a difference because the iPod version has been
conceptualised to be pretty much the same as the print.
P27:22 Most magazines available on iPad, including all Finnish magazines, are more
or less exactly as the print. So this is not something totally new like when websites
were introduced.
Some journalist’s found it difficult to create content for a device they are not yet familiar
with. Journalists and photographers were not yet sure how readers would react
because the device is just starting to be available in stores. Some journalists and
photographers considered it negative that magazines for iPad have not been
sufficiently designed beforehand.
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